ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 1916. GERMANY AND HER PRISONERS OF WAR.

Marlborough Express, Volume L, Issue 63, 15 March 1916, Page 4

ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 1916. GERMANY AND HER PRISONERS OF WAR.

It has been proved more than once of late that tjie wily Hun lias special devices for deceiving the American diplomatic representatives and ' Consuls who are allowed' from time to lime to visit the camps where British and French prisoners are held by the enemy. The visitors are allowed to see only a limited number of prisoners, and although the visits are sup--P°se« to be unheralded by any notice the German commanders of the camps appear to have telepathic powers •Anich enable them to anticipate the examination of the prisoners, and- to take steps accordingly. Even from theimost .severely conducted German prison camp the truth leaks, out occasionally, .arid, secretly written and despatched letters have reached England through neutral channels which show ho\v;the little game is worked. Immediately it is known.that some neutrai visitor is coming to inspect the camp—and, as we have said, there is always some semi-official "wireless" ?£■ ,«'ork to communicate the'news— ./special.preparations are made to enrp.ithe vißii Pr receiving the best (possible impression of the state of •Wi rs \ • Everything, is cleaned up: Ti«pe*?t!y warm\clothes and gobdl boots are Served out,, and special' meals or an ,;^nrnea durably more succulent charaHerithan.thoso on the ordinary, evervdav,. menu are: provided. The pood^hmsuispeetirisj American Charge d; A|Faire,sv.or Swerfislr, Dutch, or Norwegian Consul duly arrives, and iV naturally greatly impressed/. Should ■any prisoner dare to "let the cat om> of Ihe bag" he is described to the Visitors' as an ill-ronditioried fellow who is constantly breaking the rules and attempting to create a disorderly atmosphere in the camp, and, such is tne stnto of terrorism which has been created by outspoken prisoners having bp<m most severely punished when once ithe visitors were safely out ol ihe camp, it is rrv-nly that anyone has the courage to blurt out the ugly truth. • ' c"7

The truth, however, does, as we have pmd, leak out occasionally, and finds its wav into the newspapers. Not. only have there'been some astonishing revelations of German crn^itv to nricone'-s pf British birth published in the _Encdish press, but there have ho^n similar exposures of the same kind of bad treatment to. j which French prisoners have been j subjected in Hunland. In some cases [ tbe details of the vile cruelty infliot-ed-upnn' these unfortunate "men by thdP- Prussian can+ors 'wonld be posi- ; tivel,Vi incr»rl.-'l)le did not all the world k^ow, b.V t^is ti^rie that it is impossil)l« to fathom the depths of German bnrliorism. Tn a recent issue o-f the British Review some most extraordinary disclosures are niade by a : French: military doctor. This p-eritW man, bravely remaining behind with Ms wounded countrymen after a Frpnciv -reverse, was made the subiect ff- the frivolous chprse that he had been concerned in firing on the Germans. He wns >hot at by German pnkliers n.nd badly wounded, being afterwards tried and sentenced to death, escaping by what was almost a miracle. Four times in the •course of as many weeks he was tak^n '>nt to be shoi:. In the in+ervals he did wh«t wn.s hmvanly possible for his ni("i, who we>"e left un+pnded for rfavs .md weeks, hungry, thirsty, and in agony from septic wounds. One .Ger-' T"an doctc1 in^'sted on takino; in hand th« ca^e of a Frenchman with a badly injured- foot. He removed the foot, and when the French doctor indie}nanMv pi-ntestod, the German said! he oonsidered it necessary-—"besides, it makes one linn +he less in the war of Ihe future." In orm; instance a drunken Gprman, Avho'bad been masquerading in a oair of French red troupers, was beaten to death without

inqnirv as a frano-tireur. The Huns assured doctor-prisoner that the Oenevn Convention only held good in tirrvl of ppace! The experiences through which this vn ff"-tnnatp Frenchman passefl are in sti-ikino: conti-ast to the inprpiful and tm.ly ;h'imnne treatment whiVh, upon1 the rnithority of pi«n like Mpcsivs R.. PTn'-dintT Davis. Frederick Palmer, fitid oihe7* well-known .An^rira.n wir correspondents, to say nothing of the

testimonies of English correspondents and doctors who have written on tho war, is unfailingly and. ungrudgingly accorded by the French to their German prisoners. It's a Ion" lane which has no turning, and although for" the time being German officers and. soldiers may continue to disgrace themselves and their country by the foul injustice and cruelty which they mete out to the French and British Wounded and prisoners who fall into their barbarous hands, the day must surely come when these brutalities will be avenged. Every man who is ill-treated by the enemy and lives to tell the tale will be a walking proot that no mercy must be shown to this nation of brutes and blackguards which have affronted all civilisation and insulted common humanity by their ill deeds.